Shear stacker apparatus

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to apparatus for scroll-shearing strips from a sheet of metal stock imprinted with coatings, such as blanked circular areas for the manufacture of metal caps from sheared strips. The sheets are successively sheared into multiple strips and the strips are oriented and fed to bins all in the same orientation. The feeding of the strips to the bins and orientation thereof is accomplished by gravity feed of the sheared strips by position of the shear point of the sheet to a corresponding conveyor means which automatically orients the strips it receives and dispenses the strips into a bin so that the strips are piled in all bins in like orientation.

a corporation of Ohio SHEAR STACKER APPARATUS 6 Claims, 8 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl

Field of Search inventor William L, Addis Glassboro, NJ. Appl. No. 852 IFiled Jan. 6, 1970 Division of Ser. No. 657,674, Aug. 1, 1967 PatentedJan. 19, 1971 Assignee Owens-Illinois, Inc.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,923,937 8/1933 Krusp83/104X Primary ExaminerJames M Meister Attorneys-John R. Nelson andEdward J. Holler ABSTRACT: The present invention relates to apparatusfor scroll-shearing strips from a sheet of metal stock imprinted withcoatings, such as blanked circular areas for the manufacture of metalcaps from sheared strips. The sheets are succes sively sheared intomultiple strips and the strips are oriented and fed to bins all in thesame orientation. The feeding of the strips to the bins and orientationthereof is accomplished by gravity feed of the sheared strips byposition of the shear point of the sheet to a corresponding conveyormeans which automatically orients the strips it receives and dispensesthe strips into a bin so that the strips are piled in all bins in likeorientation.

PATENTEU JAN 1 9 I9?! SHEET 1 UF 7 AA .T .T IT W FIG.

A-m-mueys' 7 PATEN D 1mm I SHEET 5 T INVENTOR.

A ORKEVS WILLIAM Addmg PATENIEUJA 91911 7 3555946 SHEET s of 7" article.

\ SHEAR-STACKER APPARATUS 1 The presentapplication is a divisional ofSer. No. 657,674,

filed Aug. 1, 1967, copending herewith.

The present invention relates to sheet shearing and stacking, and moreparticularly to apparatus for handling sheared sheets of metal inorienting the sheared strips into desired position in receiverbins orreceptacles such that the plural sheared strips from a sheet areuniformly oriented for subsequent handling in their processing inmanufacture of an The invention has utility in the manufacture of metalclosure shells. The present invention enables the use of a sheet oftinplate thatiscoated, and lithographed Over a series of circular areaseach correspondingto a cap blank. The lithographed (or printed.) sheetshave the cap blanks in uniformly spaced rows extending laterally of thesheet. To conserve space, as will be hereinafter apparent, the rows ofcap blanks are printed in a compacted, close order, staggered array, onerow somewhatoverlapping the next. The sheets are best handled withseveral rows of 'cap blanks printed thereon. and prior to stamping outthe individual circular capblanks on a punch press, the sheets are cutinto strips such-that, for example, each strip has three adjacent,staggered rows of cap blanks. To conserve the utmost of space in thesheet, the adjacent rows,

being staggered, actually, overlap as much as possible, or to put itanother way, the circular blank regions of' the adjacent rows nearlynest adjacent each other. Therefore, in cutting the strips, the sheardie is a double-edge scroll shear that cuts strips on a zigzag linepassing around the adjacent blanks of twoof the rows in the sheet so asto cutout strips without loss of any of the blanks of the sheet.

An object of the invention is to provide apparatus for automaticallyshearing the sheets into multiple strips, and feeding all the strips ofeach sheet to a receiver bin in a desired orientation so that the stripsmay thereafter be processed in further manufacture of articlestherefrom.

A further object of this invention is to provide apparatus for handlingmultiple sheared strips from sheets and depositing each of the shearedstrips in a desired receiving bin in oriented stacks therein.

A still further object of the invention is to provide means forautomatically discharging trimmed scrap from each sheet and keeping saidtrimmed scrap metal separate from the strips.

The specific nature of this invention, as well as other objects andadvantages thereoflwill become apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe followingdetailed description, taken in conjunction with the annexedsheets of drawings, on which, by way of preferred example only. isillustrated a working embodiment of this invention.

ON THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a plan view of a sheet of metal that islithographed with plural rows of cap blanks for double-cut edge scrollshearing.

FIG. 2 is a plan view that is in pan schematic, of the invention inwhich the sheets are fed to the shear press and cut into four stripsthat are handled by the apparatus of the invention to deposit thesheared strips in oriented fashion in the individual receiver bins.

FIG. 3 is a sectional elevational view, in part taken along line 3-3 ofF IG.2.

FIG. 4 is a sectional elevational view illustrating the step of makingthe first shear cut in a sheet and handling the resulting shearedstrips.

FIG. 5 is a sectional'elevational view, similar to FIG. 4, but

schematic,

illustrating the step of making the second shear cut in the FIG. 8 is afront elevational view" of a top portion of the' strip-handlingapparatus.

sheared strips AD.

The presentinvention in its preferred form, relates to harm dling oflithographed sheets of tin plate on which transverse rows of cap blanksare printed, coatedletc. for punching the circularareas from the sheetthrough the use of a punch press. The punched circular areas are handledthrough a series of dies and formed to a bottle cap or similar article.

The punch press for punching the circular areas from the strips wereheretofore set up as double punch dies and each strip advancedintermittently through the press so that the die successively punchesout the circles in each of the plural rows of the strip. The metalstrips must be fed into the die-punch press machine in the sameorientation. If the circular areason each strip and all rows in a metalsheet are laid out along longitudinal aligned centers," and each row ofthe circular areas are on parallel lateral aligned centers, theorientation of the strips sheared from the strip is not especially aproblem. However, much economy of metal is achieved when the circularareas of the cap blanks 'are laid out instaggered rows. In the presentinvention, a triple punch die may be used, because the strips have threerows of cap blanks laid out in them and the rows are compacted andstaggered to conserve metal.

This is shown on FIG. 1. The metal sheet 10 has various coatings or spotcoatings applied to the underside of it. Lettering and decorativematerial is lithographed on the top surface of sheet 10 to form rows ofcap blank circles 11. The rows extend along the lateral side 12 of sheet10. To achieve economy in the layout, the circles 11 of the adjacentrows are staggered and nearly touching as in a nested relationship. If astraight line were drawn parallel to side 12 of the sheet andtangent tothecircles of the first row, the line would intersect all the circles ofthe adjacent second row. Thus, when the sheet is sheared into pluralstrips for handling in the punch press, the shear line is scrolled, suchas at lines 13 and 13' on sheet 10.

The layout of the cap'blanks II in the sheet 10 illustrates a "tripledie scroll sheet. The invention is equally applicable to any oddmultiple die layout where double-cut edge scroll shearing technique isusedsThe rows of cap blanks 11 have lithographed printing or decoratingindicated by the letter P on FIG. 1. The printing in'each of the rows isreversed from the other, i.e., alternate rows have the printing upsidedown from that of the next adjacent rows. In the double-cut edge scrollcut of the strips, the same'forward edge of the strip should be used infeeding the strip to the press for punching out the cap blanks. Thistriple-die scroll sheet, when out into triple-die scroll strips,indicated as A, B, C and D on FIG. I, enables a 50 percent increase inproduction rate by use of the three die stamping press for removing thecap blanks from the strips. Prior presses were operated on two rowstrips, where each strip fed the press contained but two rows of capblanks. The die of this stamping press was a double cavity diecorresponding to the two rows. The present invention provides for tripledie press by the formation of the three row, scroll In forming thestrips AD from sheet 10, a single die 14 and punch 15 are utilized on ashear press 16. Referring to FIGS. 2, 3, 4 and 5, the shear press 16receives a succession of sheets 10 fed to it on the infeed conveyor 17comprised of rolls 18, one or more of them being live rolls that arepowered in a forward or CCW direction (FIG. 3) by suitable conventionaldrive means (not shown). As a part of the shear feed mechanism, thesheet 10 is stopped over the die 14 and the punch 15 is rapidlyrecipro'cated. The cutting edges of the die .14 are shownin theperspectives views, FIGS. 6-8, the forward cutting edge 19 being amirror image (reverse) of the contour of the trailing cutting edge 20.The punch 15 is correspondingly contoured to provide the cooperatingshear surfaces. The edges sheared on the lateral (major) dimension ofthe strip at 13 and Y13' are therefore correspondingly of a mirror imagerelationship to each other.-

As the sheet 10 is first fed into the shear press, it is stopped in afirst position, as shown on FIG. ,4. The forward portion of the sheet 10marked Tis a trim portion (FIG. 1) that extends over the leading edge ofthe die 14. As the shear 16 is operated, it cuts the trim T and thefirst scroll sheared strip D from the sheet. The trim T. being of smalllongitudinal dimension will fall in the space over the trim conveyorbelt 21.

The conveyor 21 may be of the endless variety, suitably driven by knownmotor drives (not shown), or a gravity chute to convey the Trim T to acollection hopper (not shown). The first cut strip D will fall below thedie and during the gravity fall invert itself with the printed side down(see FIGS. 4 and 7). Three strips A, B and C now remain in sheet 10 andare yet uncut.

The strip D in its inverted position is received on the sheet metalguide apron 30 extending from adjacent the far edge 20 of die 14 to apoint adjacent a first receiver chute 31. This chute 31 has parallelvertical walls 32 and 33 and a downwardly sloped bottom surface 34. Thetop side of the one wall 33 has an inwardly sloped segment 33:: whichserves to deflect strips D into the receiver chute 31. The apron 30 hasa hinged lower section 30!: that pivots about the transverse axis 30b atthe pivot pin connection between 30 and 30a. The underside of section30a of the apron rests on a pair of spaced, parallel earns 35 and 36rotatable with the shaft 37 extending under the apron. The end of shaft37 has a sprocket 38 and drive chain 39, the latter being connected to asynchronous drive sprocket (not shown) on the shear press. As the pressis driven to lower the punch and cut the strip D, the earns 35, 36 aresynchronized so that the strip D will slide down apron 30 while itslower section 3011 is in the lowermost position. This feeds all of thestrips D into the chute 31 with its lithographed surface down. As stripsslide down surface 34 by gravity, they are engaged between a pair of niprolls, the upper roll 40 being an idler roll and the lower roll 41 beingdriven by electric motor 42. The nip rolls 40 and 41 feed the strip Dalong the curved guide 43 and against the moving conveyor belt 44. Thisconveyor has a magnetized metal vertical backing element 45 that extendsto the idler pulley 46 of the .As the strip D was picked up and carriedon the belt 44, the

outer surface of the strip is now the top lithographed surface, the sameas when the strip D was sheared from the sheet 10. However, the scrolledshear line 13 that was the leading edge of strip D when the latter wassheared by the die (FIG. 4) is now the trailing edge ofthe strip. Thestrip D is next delivered to a metal gravity chute 50 having parallelvertical sides 51 and 52 and this chute delivers strips D onto thehorizontal reach of conveyor belt 54. The belt 54 is reeved ever endpulleys 55 and 56, either of which may be driven by conventional means(not shown) to deliver strips D off the end of the horizontal segment ofbelt 54 from where the strips each fall into a cell 57 of the receiverbox 58. The box 58 is positioned stationary on the rollers 59 of ahorizontal roller conveyor. As each box 58 fills with strips. it may betransported along the conveyor rolls 59 to a remote position awaitingmovement to the punch press for the cap blanking operation.

After the. shear has made its first cut, the remainder of sheet 10advances to a position shown on FIGS. 5 and 7. In this position, strip Bis centered over die 14, and the shear stroke now cuts the three stripsC, B and A simultaneously. Still referring to FlGS. 5 and 7, strip Bfalls by gravity, in manner as did strip D, described earlier. andinverts itself so that scroll edge 13' is now forward and scroll edge 13is rearward. The strip slides down apron 30, but timed with this secondstroke of the shears, the apron segment 30a is raised by the cams 35, 36to the phantom line position on FlG. 7."Adjacent the first receiverchute 31 is a similarly constructed second receiver chute 60 having afar vertical wall 61 parallel with the common wall 33 and a downwardlysloped bottom wall 62. The strip B will be guided between the nip rolls63 and 64, the lower roll 64 being driven in common with roll 41. Fromnip rolls 63 and 64, strip B moves along arcuate guide 65 and onto thevertical reach of the endless belt 66 that is reeved on end pulleys 67and 68. The far pulley 68 provides the terminus of a horizontal span ofthe belt 66. The belt runs over a metal backing 69 that is magnetized tohold the tinplate strips on the belt principally on its vertical travel.The far end pulley 68 and 53 (of the adjacent conveyor) may be on acommon shaft 70 driven by any conventional drive, such as an electricmotor (not shown). As the strips B are delivered from belt 66, they areplaced in a metal guide chute 71 with vertical sides 72 and 73 whichdelivers the strips onto a horizontal belt 74 running over end pulleys75, 76. The belt 74 feeds strips B into a cell 77 of the bin 58 so thatthe lithographed surface is facing up and scroll edge 13' is forward.The strips D and B now reside in adjacent cells of the bin, each of thestrips in the bins being of like orientation edgewise and top surfaceorientation.

Referring to FIGS. 5 and 7 briefly, the second stroke of the shear alsocuts strips C and A. Strip C falls forward from the die 14 and onto adownwardly sloped apron 80. The strip C is oriented with its scroll edge13' forward and scroll edge 13 rearward.

Referring to FIG. 8, the strip C slides down apron 80 into a downwardlysloped chute 81 having vertical sides 82 and 83 and sloped bottom 84.The side 83 is fastened to the terminal end of apron 80. An anglesupport bar 85 is mounted on the mechanism at the sides of apron 80 (notshown) and is spaced above the apron 80 enough to allow strips C to passunderneath. The bar 85 supports a downwardly extending rubber bumper 86that deflects the strips C into the chute 81. As the strip slides downthe bottom wall 84, it enters nip rolls 87 and 88, the lower roll 88being driven by a motor means 89. The rolls 87 and 88 feed the stripsalong the arcuate guide 90 onto the conveyor belt 91 that is endlesslydriven over end pulleys 92 and 93 and intermediate idlers 94 and 95. Theupper reach of the belt 91 runs over a curved metal guide 96 that ismagnetized to hold the tinplate strips on the conveyor belt 91. At theend of the conveyor, the strips C are delivered to a cell 97 of the bin58 such that the lithographed surface is up and the scroll edge 13' isforward and edge 13 is rearward. This is the same orientation as stripsB and D have in the box 58.

As seen on FIG. 8, divergent raised slide rods 98 are attached on thetop surface of apron 80 to reduce friction on the strips sliding to thechute 81. This feature may be employed on the other aprons describedherein if their slope is insufficient to give a desired delivery of thestrips into the various chutes, or an increase in speed of deliveryofthe strips is needed.

Referring again to FIGS. 5 and 8, the rearward strip A is also shearedon the second stroke of the punch 15. FIG. 6 illustrates the handling ofthe strip A. An apron 100 is disposed as the bottommost apron of thethree described, and it has a curved end 100a that receives, deflectsand causes the strip A to be inverted with the lithographed surfacedown. The rear edge 12 ofthe sheet is forward and the scroll edge 13 isfacing to the rear. At the lower end of apron 100 is a vertical chutestructure 104 that is comprised of the parallel, vertical walls and theinclined bottom wall 105. An arcuate guide 106 is fastened on the upperend of vertical wall 103 and serves to flip the strip A over and returnits lithographed surfaceuppermost. The scroll edge 13 will now be facingforward. As the strip A slides down the incline 105, it enters the niprolls 107, 108; the upper rolls 107 being, driven by an electric motordrive 109. Beyond the rolls 107, 108 is an upwardly curved metaldeflector 110 which extends adjacent the vertical span of the endlessconveyor belt 111. This belt runs in part over magnetized metal supportplate 112 contoured to include the vertical leg and horizontal leg ofthe conveyor for the tinplate. The belt also extends around end pulleys113 and 114 and two underside idler pulleys 115 and 116. One of the endpulleys, such as 114 is powered by drive means (not shown) preferablycommon with the other conveyor belts 91, 74 and 54. As the strips Areach the turn of the belt 111, they are similarly fed lengthwise into acell 117 in the bin 58. The strips A are thus oriented therein the sameas the strips B, C and D, described earlier; except, of course, thetrailing edge 12 of the strip A is not a scroll cut edge. This is notimportant because the strips inclusive of strips A, are registered inthe punch edge 13".

. press for stamping out the cap blanks according 'to the scroll As abin 58 is filled, an empty bin 58 (phantom outline in FIG. 2) isad'vancedin line with the four conveyors discharging the strips andthe-filled bins are moved to the position indicated at 58a and 58b onthe skate wheel conveyor support for the bins; The process of shearingsheets to strips andhandling them may be carried out continuously andautomatically in accordance with the above-described technique inshearing and handling one of the-sheets 10.

While embodiments of the present invention have been herein specificallydescribed, other embodiments ;and variations may occurtothoseskilled inthe art after a knowledge of the disclosure herein, and it is desired toinclude within the scope of a patent granted hereon all'such embodimentsand VQfiQIiOHS and more particularly as comprehended by the ap pendedclaims. i

lclaim: i t i a 1. Apparatus for shearing and handling metal strips frommaster sheets which include multiple rows of circular article blanksimprinted on at least one surface, comprising a shear first and thirdmost forward strips cut from each master sheet, said conveyor meansextending to a lateral delivery zone, a receiver bin at said deliveryzone supported to receive strips in plural piles, said conveyor meansincluding means for holding said strips thereon at least during part oftheir movement thereon with said conveyor, said conveyor means having anoverhead segment in which the strips are turned end-for-end for deliveryto the receiverbin, a second conveyor means adapted to receive thesecond most forward strip cut from the master sheet, said conveyordelivering the strips at a terminal end thereof and including means forholding the strips thereon for at least a portion of the movement withthis conveyor, said second conveyor means extending to the delivery zonefor delivery of strips to the receiver bin, a third conveyor means 25blanks thereon, a first conveyor means adapted to receive the means onan initial stroke on each master sheet forms a forward marginal trimstrip, and means disposed beneath the shear means to receive the trimstrip and separate it from the other strips cut from said sheet.

.- 3. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the means holding thestrips on the first, second and third conveyor means, respectively,comprise a magnetized backing plate at the back surface of a movingelement of each said conveyor means magnetically holding metal stripsagainst the opposite surface of said moving elements as they pass overthe backing plates. i

4. The apparatus defined in claim 3. wherein each of said conveyor meansincludes a pair of rotatable nip rollers for engaging strips and movingthem into contact with the moving element thereof of the respectiveconveyor means. and drive means connected to rotate at least one saidpair of rollers.

5. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the third conveyor meansincludes a downwardly sloped apron, a lateral chute disposed below theapron at its terminal end, the chute having a downwardly sloped guidesurface, a concavely curved lateral guide element disposed opposite theterminal end of said apron and spaced outwardly therefrom such that thestrips falling from the terminal end of said apron to the sloped guidesurface are tumbled forwardly end-for-end to invert them, and saidcurved guide element limits forward tumbling movement of the strips asthey are fed to the lateral chute.

.6. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the first con-

1. Apparatus for shearing and handling metal strips from master sheetswhich include multiple rows of circular article blanks imprinted on atleast one surface, comprising a shear means for receiving the mastersheets and feeding each through the shear means for cutting the sheetinto plural strips, each strip containing multiple rows of said articleblanks thereon, a first conveyor means adapted to receive the first andthird most forward strips cut from each master sheet, said conveyormeans extending to a lateral delivery zone, a receiver bin at saiddelivery zone supported to receive strips in plural piles, said conveyormeans including means for holding said strips thereon at least duringpart of their movement thereon with said conveyor, said conveyor meanshaving an overhead segment in which the strips are turned end-for-endfor delivery to the receiver bin, a second conveyor means adapted toreceive the second most forward strip cut from the master sheet, saidconveyor delivering the strips at a terminal end thereof and includingmeans for holding the strips thereon for at least a portion of themovement with this conveyor, said second conveyor means extending to thedelivery zone for delivery of strips to the receiver bin, a thirdconveyor means for receiving the fourth most forward strip cut from saidmaster sheet, said conveyor means extending to the delivery zone andincluding means for holding strips thereon at least during a portion oftheir movement with said conveyor, said third conveyor means includingmeans for forwardly inverting each of said fourth strips while on theconveyor and prior to their being held by the conveyor.
 2. The apparatusdefined in claim 1, wherein the shear means on an initial stroke on eachmaster sheet forms a forward marginal trim strip, and means disposedbeneath the shear means to receive the trim strip and separate it fromthe other strips cut from said sheet.
 3. The apparatus defined in claim1, wherein the means holding the strips on the first, second and thirdconveyor means, respectively, comprise a magnetized backing plate at theback surface of a moving element of each said conveyor meansmagnetically holding metal strips against the opposite surface of saidmoving elements as they pass over the backing plates.
 4. The apparatusdefined in claim 3, wherein each of said conveyor means includes a pairof rotatable nip rollers for engaging strips and moving them intocontact with the moving element thereof of the respective conveyormeans, and drive means connected to rotate at least one said pair ofrollers.
 5. The apparatus defined in claim 1, wherein the third conveyormeans includes a downwardly sloped apron, a lateral chute disposed belowthe apron at its terminal end, the chute having a downwardly slopedguide surface, a concavely curved lateral guide element disposedopposite the terminal end of said apron and spaced outwardly therefromsuch that the strips falling from the terminal end of said apron to thesloped guide surface are tumbled forwardly end-for-end to invert them,and said curved guide element limits forward tumbling movement of thestrips as they are fed to the lateral chute.
 6. The apparatus defined inclaim 1, wherein the first conveyor means comprises a downwardly slopedapron extending from beneath the shear means, a hinged end segment onsaid apron, rotatable cam means supporting said hinged end segment, apair of parallel side-by-side downwardly sloped lateral chutes disposedbeneath the terminal end of said hinged segment of the apron, and meansfor rotating said cam means for moving said hinged segment of the apronbetween positions for distributing strips conveyed over the apron ofsaid lateral chutes.